Tag: woman

Ben Carson apparently thinks that abolitionists are only worth one-tenth of a person

For the first time in a century and a quarter, a woman will be on the face of U.S. paper currency. For the first time ever, the woman on the face of U.S. paper currency will be a woman of color.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced that Harriet Tubman, a slave, abolitionist, and pro-women’s suffrage activist who is best known for her roles in the Harper’s Ferry raid and the Underground Railroad, will replace Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States whose legacy includes the Trail of Tears forced removal of Native Americans from the South, on the front the $20 bill. $20 bills currently in circulation with Jackson on the front will still be legal tender, however.

While both Democratic presidential candidates have praised the Treasury Department’s decision to place Tubman on the most widely circulated form of U.S. paper currency, failed former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, now a Donald Trump supporter, went on FOX Business Network and said that he thinks that the Treasury Department should have put Tubman on the rarely-circulated $2 bill instead:

…During a Fox Business Network interview Wednesday, the failed presidential candidate turned Trump surrogate lamented to Neil Cavuto that Jackson was “a tremendous president” and “in honor of that we kick him off the money.” Asked whether he is, by extension, anti-Tubman, the retired neurosurgeon replied: “No. I love Harriet Tubman, I love what she did. We can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill?”…

Many Americans don’t realize this, but the $2 bill, which currently features Thomas Jefferson on the front of the bill, is actually legal tender in the United States. However, the $2 bill is rarely circulated (in fact, I’ve not seen a $2 bill in many years).

Now, back to the main point of this blog post…right-wingers have officially gone from believing that people of color are three-fifths of a person to believing that people of color are one-tenth of a person. Personally, while Tubman wasn’t my first choice for the new $20 bill (Sacajawea was my first preference), I don’t think that there’s a better way to honor Tubman, who is one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived, than to put her on the front of the most circulated form of U.S. paper currency. Oh, and I believe that people of color are full people.

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What is a badass woman?

Nearly two weeks ago, President Barack Obama said this while honoring the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT), which won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup:

This team taught all of America’s children that playing like a girl means you’re a badass.

While it would probably be better for a woman, especially a woman who regards herself as a badass woman, to define what a badass woman is, I’ll give my own description of what I consider to be a badass woman.

In my opinion, badass women have four common qualities:

  • Badass women fight for what they believe in. Whether it be an athlete competing for an individual or team victory, a political figure fighting for a policy goal that she supports, or a woman in a different profession fighting for an important goal in her profession, a badass woman will do anything possible to achieve her goals.
  • Badass women know that they’re not perfect, but they do everything to the best of their ability. No person on this planet is truly perfect, but a badass woman does everything in the best way that she can.
  • Badass women stand up for themselves. Even in the face of defeat, criticism, bigotry, and so on, a badass woman stands up for herself and her values.
  • Badass women are strong and confident, but not whiny or overtly arrogant. Badass women don’t act like they’re perfect and don’t throw childish temper tantrums, but are the strongest and most confident people on this planet.

If one were to ask me what kind of women that I admire the most, my response would be that I admire badass women.